@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange
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VampiresAndRobots

@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange

Washed up has-been-but-maybe-kinda-still author, artist, and robot apologist.

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VampiresAndRobots, to Halloween
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Look, I know it's not quite October yet, but do I actually need an excuse to make a gourd bokoblin and koroks?

RickiTarr, to random
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Phone Technology Question!

The hubs and I were having a discussion about Apple continually releasing new iPhones without any actual innovation. That lead us to a few questions, that I, of course, said, Well, I'll ask Mastodon about it! So here goes:

Have we reached as far with Phone Technology, as it exists as a rectangle piece of hardware in your pocket, as we can?

Is the future in software?

What about a better version of Google Glass?

Are we heading towards implants?

Please don't mention anything with a see through screen, literally no one wants other people to see what they are doing on their phone! LOL

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

@RickiTarr thinner, more flexibility, maybe a phone we can roll up and stuff in our shirt pocket like a pen?
Personally, I'd love to see a phone made with far less materials. I had a pretty big box of ewaste that I'd collected over the course of 15 years that I just tore down and sent for recycling, but I'm not optimistic that any of it actually went anywhere except a landfill.

MnemosyneSinger, to random

"How you doing?"

"Oh you know, hanging in there."

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

@MnemosyneSinger ah! Thank you for reminding me where the meme phrase "they crave that mineral" came from.

pretensesoup, to random
@pretensesoup@romancelandia.club avatar

#WritersCoffeeClub 9/24: What are your biggest bugbears with publishing?

In the intro to the ed. of The Martian Chronicles I have, Ray Bradbury writes this thing about "I went down to New York and told this editor my idea for the Martian Chronicles, and he gave me $1500 and that paid my rent for two years and delivered our first baby daughter." Now, if you write a really good novel, you might still get a $1500 advance.

I'm still angry about this paragraph.

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

@pretensesoup So Bradbury paid $30 a month rent late 40s. My first apartment was $300, mid 90s. Bradbury made $1500. I probably made somewhere around $10-15k, so for 50 years, things kinda sorta inflated on a flatline. Today, rent in most cities is $3000 and I sure as hell don't make $150k. Yeah, anger is highly justified.

VampiresAndRobots, to random
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Something people need to remember: not everyone has the opportunity to work from home. While the latest report that doing so can cut a person's carbon footprint in half is great, there are a lot of other things to consider here, first and foremost is that we can all cut our carbon footprint in half, but if corporations don't, well, we aren't saving the world. But more than that, we really need to frame these changes in a more equitable manner. (Thread)

VampiresAndRobots,
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This isn't a single issue. Yes, it's great for folks who want to work from home and are lucky enough to have jobs that allow them to do so. But people who can't work from home, and yes, even people who want to work in an office (they exist) should have easy access to their jobs and life needs. I worry that if work from home is pushed as what's best, we're going to ignore the need for affordable urbanization.

VampiresAndRobots,
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For example, I work a job that can't be done from home. I drive 35 miles each way, on a congested highway system in a large metro area. It would be awesome if I could take a train to work, but the US doesn't have that kind of infrastructure. It's not a very high paying job, but it pays a lot more than many service and retail jobs whose employees are in the same situation as me.

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

And for those who are going to say, "we'll get another job, or move closer to the one you have," well, the issue here is I LIKE my job. I work for a company that respects my autonomy as a human and has my back when the state doesn't. Also, part of living in a huge metro area is dealing with the fact that affordable housing and good jobs do not coexist in the same cities. And don't even get me started on the food deserts here.

VampiresAndRobots,
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What I'm trying to say is that what we really need is to abolish zoning laws that create these vast divides and create some truly mixed use development. We need to bring back walkable neighborhoods that have houses AND apartments, AND a grocery store on the corner, and a train that goes to the business and industrial centers. Even the WFH crowd can benefit from a grocery store on the corner. (End thread)

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

@oblomov yes, but the point I was making is that people tend to take one idea and run with it as THE solution (see bike lanes a few weeks ago).

Saposcat, to random
@Saposcat@mendeddrum.org avatar

#WritersCoffeeClub Book promotion. I think I'm in about the same situation as others I've read today. Self-promotion is hard. I think most of us would like to do the writing bit and hand over the promotion piece to someone else. I can't picture myself aggressively promoting. Maybe a reverse psychology campaign of "you probably wouldn't like it." More seriously, I think my first step (after actually publishing something) is to identify an audience, then figure out where they look for books.

VampiresAndRobots,
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@courtcan @Saposcat @willelm every moderate success I've had has been pure luck

Saposcat, to HashtagGames
@Saposcat@mendeddrum.org avatar

Catnado



VampiresAndRobots,
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@Saposcat @Nikkileah The Great Cat's Bee

BlackAzizAnansi, to random
@BlackAzizAnansi@mas.to avatar

The fediverse should be a place for more than just weird nerds.

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

@BlackAzizAnansi are there that many weird nerds though? I run into a lot of tech nerds and medical nerds, lit nerds and gamer nerds, but just plain old weirdos who don't need a highly advanced degree or obsession? Not so many.

VampiresAndRobots, to random
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I don't know what other people do to celebrate their anniversaries, but we go to semi abandoned malls and take slightly creepy photos. At least, that's what we did this year (after going to Meow Wolf in grapevine, which was pretty cool).

A view from the second story of a mall, looking down to the first. The floor and support beams are all white tile with black and jade tile accents. All of the storefronts are empty. On the bottom floor left side is a log cabin like building that would have been where pictures with Santa were taken. Sunlight from an unseen skylight creates a line of squares across the floor. There are no people in the picture.

BlackAzizAnansi, to random
@BlackAzizAnansi@mas.to avatar

There is no good reason for early September to be this hot.

VampiresAndRobots,
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@BlackAzizAnansi high of 107°f here. It's hell.

VampiresAndRobots, to random
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I'm really getting tired of everyone on here acting like fascism has an age cut off and everything will be fine once the kids are in charge. Like do you not understand these "old" nazis are training tomorrow's fascists?

courtcan, to random
@courtcan@mastodon.social avatar

I haven't used my Twitter account in almost a year. I unfollowed everyone and locked the account. But I kept the account because I didn't want anyone taking my username. I think I'm ready to give it up. This pretty much clinches it.

https://press.coop/@Independent/110985065684544724

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

@courtcan ugh. Yeah
I guess I should do that as well.

Tinu, to random
@Tinu@mastodon.social avatar

Android also scans your texts and emails 🤷🏾‍♀️

I used to be THEEE Google gal. But don’t be evil was of course BS.

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

@Tinu it was more like, "YOU don't be evil, and by evil we clearly mean doing things that affect our bottom line like using ad block and using sites we don't approve of. We, on the other hand, will be as evil as we want."

VampiresAndRobots, to random
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This is probably too long to be a Mastodon post, but I've really been just as averse to blogging as I have to creating lately, and well, it's relevant to social media, so buckle up for some kind of sad insights.
So way back in my late 20s I moved away from my home state and much to everyone's astonishment, I didn't immediately fail and move back. This was way back before social media, so I would occasionally call my old friends or email to keep in touch. 1/10

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

Yeah, maybe it was, but it wasn't what my friends did. Rather than accept that I'd moved in a different direction, nearly everything I posted was met with an accusation that I wasn't always like that. The fact that I didn't eat meat (hell, I wasn't even vegan yet) meant I was a target for tired jokes.
I won't pretend I didn't snap a few times and yeah, I probably said some snippy things, but it exhausted me and at some point, I quit. 5/10

VampiresAndRobots,
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Facebook was nothing but drama, and over on Twitter, I was slowly building a network of other authors who shared my interests and were a lot of fun to talk to. Maybe it was the fact that we weren't overly familiar that made it feel different. Actually, that probably had a lot to do with it, but it was nice, nonetheless.
Meanwhile, in the real world, my back home friends decided I no longer existed thanks to not being on the same social media site they used. 6/10

VampiresAndRobots,
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And locally, well, it was kind of the same thing. I'd made some good friends at all my jobs and for a while, we kept in touch, but once I wasn't on their social media, or someone moved away, that was it.
Of the really good friends I made here, I probably hear from 2 of them every year or so and we always pull the same "we really should keep in touch more" song and dance every time.
Unfortunately, I know I'm not going to be the one to make the effort because I've been burned. 7/10

VampiresAndRobots,
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And now Twitter is ending. I've been effectively gone since last November. I came here, and met some new folks, some old friends are also here. A few I actually keep up with through text. But a lot are still on Twitter, or they went back to Facebook, and didn't spare a thought to those of us who won't.
And it got me wondering. People always say it's tough making friends as an adult. Is it? I'm not even a very socially adept person and I can make friends. 8/10

VampiresAndRobots,
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What I can't seem to do, is keep them. At least, not without doing a delicate balancing act, and it makes me wonder. How long will Mastodon be here? Is it hard to make friends or is it just a little bit exhausting to keep them? And is that actually bad? Is it okay to drift away from people over time? Is it perhaps even natural? There's a lot of talk about loneliness these days and I get it. Everyone's world got a lot smaller recently. 9/10

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

Heck, right now, if I wanted to hang out with someone who wasn't my husband, I'd have a hard time finding anyone, so I get it. I just wonder if worrying about it is maybe causing unnecessary anxiety, or should we be fighting to forge better friendships?
Feel free to take all of this as rhetorical or answer any and all of my questions. I promise, I'm not as melancholy as this sounds. I've just been thinking.
10/10

VampiresAndRobots,
@VampiresAndRobots@writing.exchange avatar

@seachanger it is weird, and maybe weirder that we accept it as status quo, but I will say I've cherished all the friendships I've made online, no matter how fleeting.

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